Tonight is the night that we say goodbye to J.R. Ewing on Dallas at 9p on TNT and you better get the tissues ready.
The family flies down to Mexico in disbelief that their brother/father/ex-husband/uncle is dead. But when they see J.R.’s body in the morgue, they know that this time that whoever shot him got the job done. When they see him lying there, John Ross (Josh Henderson) handles it as best as he can but you can see by his face that he can’t. In fact you will really feel Henderson’s grief throughout this episode. When it comes to others Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) breaks down, Bobby (Patrick Duffy) steps into action and Christopher (Jesse Metcalfe) is the shoulder they need to cry on.
Now it is time for The Ewings to fly back to Southfork without their leader J.R. and once they are in Dallas you can feel Duffy’s emotions as he remembers his old friend Larry Hagman. We know that the tears that they shed are real, and you can tell that the writers let the actors play it out as they did in their real lives.
When it comes time for the memorial service, we will see a lot of familiar faces from the original series come back to say goodbye to their friend, lover and nemesis. But this wouldn’t be Ewing memorial without an epic fight, would it? So you are going to get one and that is when Metcalfe really stands out.
Just like the whole episode as the cast says goodbye to their mentor and dear friend Larry Hagman and we say goodbye to the man we loved to hate J.R. Ewing.
Dallas sincerely does Larry Hagman proud. So make sure to watch J.R. Ewing’s Masterpiece tonight on TNT at 9p because it really is a masterpiece.

Recently I was on a conference call with the second generations of Dallas and they remembered the man that they looked up to.

Josh Henderson: But, you know, we want to make sure at the end of the day that they respect Larry and that hopefully the fans will really, you know, accept the way that Larry exits and thatâ€™s a really big deal for us. And weâ€™re going to continue on because I know thatâ€™s what he would have wanted. Dallas was a huge part of his life and he really loved us and loved the show and loved being a part of it and I was just fortunate enough to be able to work with this amazing man. So itâ€™s going to be tough but, you know, weâ€™re going to keep on trucking.

Jesse Metcalfe: It’s incredibly important. I think the best way to honor Larry would be to make this show a huge success and to keep this show going for at least a few more years to come. Anything less than that I think Larry would see as a failure. You know, I mean it’s – this tragedy, you know, has really kind of set up another monumental, you know, television event. And I think, you know, our writers, our producers and obviously us has actors have all come together to try to honor Larry and honor the character of JR Ewing in the best way that we know how. And it’s going to make for some very compelling television. There’s no doubt about that. I mean Episode 8 is really, you know, the episode where JR’s death – the mystery of JR’s death begins to unravel. And it’s entitled JR’s Masterpiece. And a lot of very intriguing storylines have set in motion because of his death. And I think they’re really going to fuel the second half of the season and possibly seasons to come.

Julie Gonzalo: Well, you know, it’s sad. It’s sad. I think the first, you know, I mean it’s still sad. We still talk about him on a daily basis. I think the first few weeks, months of his passing, you know, it was very somber on set. And but I think in a strange way it really united us and it really made us all close. And by us I mean the crew and the cast and everybody involved in the production. It just made everybody more eager to work and more – there’s this level of like wanting to do the best we possibly can for him. You know, our motto became let’s do it for Larry. It’s a beautiful thing that, you know, we get to – we get to unite and really honor this such a legendary icon person on and off screen. I got – I mean I was blessed to be in his presence and to have spoken to him and to have had so many, you know, encounters with him and to have traveled with him and I – we cherish those moments. It’s still sad. It’s still – and it’s still, you know, a little – it’s weird at times. But, you know, he would have wanted to continue. He would have wanted us to have a smile on our faces and to continue on and to make the show what he made the show. I mean obviously not anywhere near what he had done with the show but at least to just do – put our best job – our best efforts forward. And, you know, he always spoke about doing the show for another 14 years and we could only be as lucky.

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Itâ€™s great to see that so many of the original cast showed up to show their respect for J.R. because it just shows how much Larry Hagman touched their lives. In true Dallas tradition, Cliff comes to crash the party and I think that this was totally appropriate. Iâ€™m sure that he wouldnâ€™t have expected any less out of the Barnes clan. After watching the clip for the funeral in my office at DISH I knew that this would be an emotional episode. Not only are they lying to rest one of the greatest television actors of the 20th century but also one of TVâ€™s greatest villains. I didnâ€™t get to see â€œJ.R.s Masterpieceâ€ when it aired last night because I was still at work but I caught up with the show on my train ride home. Thanks to the Hopper and DISH Anywhere I can turn my iPad into a TV anytime, anywhere.